Students protest against the appointment of the institutue’s chairman outside Kalina University campus.
The information and broadcasting ministry’s decision in June 2015 to appoint small-time actor Gajendra Chauhan as the president of the FTII Society and chairman of its governing council led to great upheaval. Students of the premier film institute went an indefinite strike from June 12, and three members of FTII society — Santosh Sivan, Jahnu Barua and Pallavi Joshi — also quit. Several rounds of talks between the students and the ministry followed. The logjam even took a nasty turn when five students were arrested after FTII director Prashant Pathrabe was gheraoed by them. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also paid a visit to the FTII campus in support of the students’ demands.
A wave of protests and open displeasure began by top filmmakers like Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan. Both, along with eight other directors, returned their National Awards to express solidarity with the agitating FTII students and protest against intolerance in the country. Twenty-four other filmmakers also returned their awards last month, a move slammed by some sections, including Bollywood stars like Anupam Kher, Raveena Tandon and Priyadarshan. The students ended their strike after over four months, but their protest continues and Chauhan is yet to visit the institute after being nominated its head.
